Floodwaters in the Black Lake area of Michigan’s northern Lower Peninsula continue to recede, although some cottage properties remain submerged and now face additional danger from floating ice chunks.
In Grant Township, which covers the northwest portion of Black Lake, Township Supervisor Gil Archambo said on Tuesday, April 21, that the water level near his lakefront house is down more than 6 1/2 inches from its peak of last Thursday or Friday.
“It’s really going in the correct direction now,” he said in a phone interview.
Archambo said he and his wife were able to return to their house on Monday after having evacuated last week to a motel in the Indian River area. However, a significant number of other houses and yards in the township remain flooded, he said, and the majority of flood evacuees have yet to return home. And most roads that closed due to flooding have yet to reopen.
Black Lake cottages are also now dealing with the hazard of windblown ice chunks, he said, which have reportedly been coming ashore and damaging properties’ walls and windows.
“I did some investigating yesterday, and there is probably a piece out there that’s in the south end of the lake that’s probably 5-square-miles big — it’s a big chunk — and it’s just floating around out there,” Archambo said. “As soon as the wind blows, in whichever direction it goes, it’s coming to shore.”
In fact, Archambo said that his own brother was awakened Tuesday to discover that during the night, a chunk of ice rammed his property and damaged the stairs and railings of his porch. His brother’s house is on the west shore of the lake.
“The ice is starting to do some serious damage,” Archambo said.
The Indian River area has also dealt with flooding. Archambo said the water level at an Indian River cottage he owns was actually up by 1/2 an inch as of Tuesday morning. The cottage is now surrounded by water, he said, but is still dry inside.
Contact JC Reindl: 313-378-5460 or jcreindl@freepress.com. Follow him on X @jcreindl
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Black Lake cottages now facing danger of floating ice chunks
Reporting by JC Reindl, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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